What a weekend I'm having!

Audrey is sick here, but to look at her you wouldn't know it.

Well, we had such great plans for the weekend. Friday night seemed to be the only time that wasn't tainted. We spent that night with Phillip, Suzanne and Kitley at the Brickstore. Yummy. Actually, I take that back. It WAS tainted because that's when we suspected that Audrey had pink-eye. And, later that night, when that icky yellow puss kept re-emerging from her inner eye, we knew we were right. Not to worry too much, we had eyedrops at home. It just pissed me off because I knew she got it from being in daycare. Four more weeks and we're pulling her out.
So, Saturday morning Audrey seemed well enough to go with us. I had to judge the Inman Park Festival, (which is always fun) so we went out to breakfast, Tim dropped me off at the co-ordinators house and went on to find parking. Audrey's eyes were a little red, but the puss wasn't as persistent.
Interjection: Now, we missed the festival last year because I was 9 months preggo and hating life. Walking 10 miles would have made me likely to kill someone. So we were looking forward to this weekend. We got excited and even a little anxious. We talked it up to our friends. We had great expectations...
And everything was fine until I get a phone call from Tim. He had met up with Phillip and Suzanne and they were waiting for me to wrap up the judging process so that we could enjoy the parade. I was just steps away from them and he says, "By the way, Audrey is shivering like she's cold and she has a fever."
My heart started pounding. That shivering bit scares the hell out of me. I quickened my step and caught a glimps of them off to the side behind some of the booths. When I saw Audrey I winced. She looked like a zombie. I was trying to keep my cool, but on the inside I was flipping out!
To make a long story short, we scrapped our remaining plans and focused on being worried sick about her all weekend. Just two seconds ago, I took her temperature and it's 103.6, same as it was 3 hours ago. The doctor seems to think that I shouldn't worry. I hope her brain isn't FRYING! She said that unless her fever reaches 105 I shouldn't take her to the emergency room. I'm sure she's right... I just can't help but be a little frightened. It's strange to feel your baby's head and she's burning up only to feel that her hands and feet are as cold as ice. The pink eye isn't what worries me anymore- I suspect that the last ear infection she had never went away, but worsened.
We'll find out tomorrow. Tim is taking yet another day off work to take her to the doctor.
It seems like at least one of us has been sick every weekend for the past two months! Oh, and by the way, I'm pretty sure Audrey's doctor hates me, but that's another story.

We asked for it.

I was so excited when I heard Audrey wake up this morning. The baby monitor is right by my ear and I that little transmitted whimper woke me.
I was excited because Tim beat me to her yesterday morning and today it was MY turn!
It was just like old times. I rushed to her room, slowly opened the door and said, "Hi there BabyPooPoo!" Instead of greeting me with her usual open-mouthed grin she had a sort of pathetic look on her face. I walked over to lift her out of the crib and noticed what was wrong.
She had shit all over her! I mean ALL OVER HER! It was on her face, on her hands, in her hair.... she truly was BabyPooPoo this morning.
I cleaned her off as best I could with the wipes, rushed her off to the bathy and scoured the hell out of her.
I just hope none of that poo made it to her mouth.

Lazy Thursday

He called me on his way home from work and I said, "I'm so exhausted I don't even want to make dinner."
Pause.
"What do you want to eat?"
Tim's answer of course is, "PIZZA!"
"I'm not making pizza."
"Okay, well, I'll see you when I get home."
About 3 minutes later, (I was still standing in the same spot- too tired to move) he calls back:
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to go out to eat?"
I sigh in relief, "YESH!"
"Okay."
"Okay."
We went to La Fonda, our favorite, Audrey's too. She freakin' loves the salsa. She devours it. She fusses if we don't shovel it down her throat fast enough.

After she had her fill of salsa, beans and rice she started doing this:

I laughed so hard guacamole almost shot out of my nose. She's never done that before! I hope she doesn't turn into one of my former elementary school students who used to start undressing herself if she didn't get her way. She'd just stare at you instead of taking her seat and then start unbuttoning her dress. I often wondered if she thought of that tactic on her own or if she saw it modeled...

(sort of) Happy Easter

Well, let me start where I left off. This week was hard. I knew it would be.

First: I was lucky to see Audrey for 15 minutes after work every day. She started going to bed at around 6:30 because she has to get up so early now. There were times in the evening when I seriously thought about creeping into her room and "accidentally" waking her up so that I could play with her.
Second: The ladies at the day care obviously don't read the paperwork. I had specifically written down, in several places, that Audrey was not to have meat or juice. I knew that they had given her juice (and lots of it) because she had the you-know-whats all night.
So, here's what I did in order to solve the communication problem:

That's right, on every diaper, on every bottle... I even thought about taping a note to her back. I wasn't trying to be mean. I just wanted to make sure that they knew. I love Tim, but he's not confontational enough. I wish I could be the one to drop her off every morning.
There's more to this day care thing, but I won't bore you to death.
Third: It's Easter. It's not a great Easter. Tim has been thowing up and you-know-whatting all night long. One minute he's on fire and the next he's freezing. Audrey has a fever, so I'm sure she's next. GREAT! I have no idea what we are going to do tomorrow.

At least we got to celebrate Easter with the Shermans Friday night. The kids (really the adults) enjoyed dying eggs. We trashed them immediately after we made them, but it was a great time.

Tomorrow, things change.

It hasn't really hit me yet. I'm sure it will hit me at school, in the middle of a class, when I least expect it. A pang will rise in my chest and I'll have to bring my hand closer to my heart in realization that I miss my daughter so much it hurts. I just hope that I don't start crying in front of a bunch of teenagers. I don't want to be referred to as "Our New Wussy Teacher".
I should feel relieved that we finally found a daycare with an opening. It only took four weeks! (Four weeks of my sweaty ear glued to a cell phone only to hear, "We're booked until the end of next year.") I must have called over 60 establishments.

Audrey,
I am comforted to know that you will be in the hands of total strangers. Strangers that print promotional materials that read as follows:(click to see larger image)

Strangers that will never love you as much as your dad and I do. Strangers that might ignore your cries or overlook your milestones. Strangers that will be receiving all of MY hugs. Strangers that might not know the cues you give when you want a bottle or just to be held. Strangers that surely won't smile or clap or laugh as much as Mommy does for you. Strangers that will never know how much I will miss you and worry about you while you're out of my sight.

THAT'S IT. I QUIT. I'm calling them tomorrow and telling them to find someone else. I'd much rather be poor than send my daughter to daycare. I think it just hit me.

At least Audrey gave us a special treat tonight; She took her first steps! She took 6 full wobbly steps towards her Papaw (my dad). I cried out of sheer joy. I'm so glad we got to see it first and not someone at the daycare. Thank you Audrey Rose.

Audrey got to see both sets of grandparents tonight. She fed the geese with Tim's parents. Geese are so nasty. Geese smell. I think Audrey felt the same way:

Anyway, back to my letter...
I think I've gotten everything ready for you. I've packed your bag, made sure you have enough food and a change of clothes. I wish I had a little tiny camcorder I could strategically stuff in there so I could watch you from work. I'll have to take a picture of you instead and hope that those people are taking good care of you. I will always be able to say that, "I can do it better."
What's wrong with the world today that I can't stay at home and raise my kid?
Maybe I'll start playing the lottery.
I love you and tomorrow will be much harder on me than you. Have a good time and be nice to all those boys. (Audrey is the only girl. Five other boys will be in her room.) I'll be waiting for you and Daddy on pins and needles.
Love,
Momma.

In case you didn't know...

My daughter is a bully! Last night, we got together with the Baby Gang and Audrey (on several ocassions) tried to snag Kitely's bottle! Yes, she was successful this time.
If you're interested, you can view all of the photos here:
Triple Threat!
All of their birthdays are coming up in the next couple months. I can't believe it's almost been a year. Time flies when you're having fun.

This one's for you...

Hello -
I realize that you are probably busy with a real life,
real responsibilities and a real family. That being
said, your adoring public demands more!!! I really
enjoy your blog and hope that you are merely on a
fabulous vacation - somewhere in the middle of
nowhere, perhaps? and that is why you have not posted
in over a week!
I go there daily to see what clever things are going
on with you and yours and now I begining to suffer
from withdrawl! I could not contain myself any
longer, I had to speak out!
Hope all is well!

Quite possibly your #1 fan,
Julie Malizia

Julie-
I wish I were on vacation! Actually, my long vacation with Audrey is about to come to an end. Monday I begin working again.
I took a long-term sub position at Grady HS. High school. That's right. I'm pretty excited. I just wish it were a permanent position.
Let's see, what have I been doing that I haven't updated in a week?
Well, we went to the zoo....and watched lizards copulate.

We've been dealing with a cranky, teething baby...



















..she also has another ear infection. So, we've been to the doctor twice this week.
We've made several trips out to Roswell, one to drop Audrey off (so that I could make MY doctor's appt. in the morning) and one to have a playdate with Jonah her cousin...

I've also been sending my resume off to anyone and everyone, trying to make it to the gym every day, laundry, house cleaning, getting my car tuned up, taxes, meetings, errands and such.
This week has just flown by.
I promise you that I will update more frequently in the next few weeks. I just used the past week to tie up loose ends before the jobby job started.
I miss you Julie!
I will leave you with my favorite photo of the week. This was taken after we went to the zoo last Saturday: